Fleas and ticks can be a serious problem for people all across the United States, including those living in St. Louis and Mid-Missouri.  Not only do we enjoy spending time outdoors, but so do our pets.  Unfortunately the more time Fido or Fluffy spend outside exploring the yard or nearby woods, the more likely they increase the risk of coming into contact with fleas and ticks.  Ticks are often located at the edges of woods along trails and in tall grass, where they sit and wait until a host passes by that they can crawl on and attach themselves to.  Fleas are also found in outdoor areas and are sometimes brought onto your property by wild animals; they will wait in tall grasses until they find another host to jump on, feed off of and lay eggs on.  Once either of these species finds your pet and enters your home they can be very difficult to safely eliminate without the help of a professional St. Louis pest control company.

In Mid-Missouri the dog tick, the blacklegged tick and the cat flea are the species which people will most likely come into contact with.

• Dog tick– They have oval, flat bodies and are brownish white in color with gray markings; once they feed they are about 5/8 of an inch in length and 3/8 of an inch wide. As the name suggests, dogs are their favorite host but they will gladly feed off of humans as well. 

• Blacklegged tick– Also commonly called the deer tick, their preferred host is the white tailed deer, but if the opportunity arises they will attach themselves to other hosts including pets and humans; they have darker legs than their dark reddish-brown body.  They are a small tick, females are about 1/8 of an inch long and males are about 1/16 of an inch long. 

• Cat flea– Despite their name they have a variety of hosts, including dogs, cats, raccoons and foxes. The adults are wingless insects that range in length from 1/12 – 1/8 of an inch in length.  While they can’t fly they can jump up to 6-8 inches high.  Their bodies are flat and thin and are covered with spines that help them to move through the fur of their hosts.   

Both fleas and ticks are parasitic species, which means that they rely on hosts for their food source and parts of their life cycle.  Being a parasite also means that they do not benefit their host at all and instead actually cause harm to them.  Ticks are major vectors of serious diseases such as Lyme disease (caused by the blacklegged tick), which can threaten both your pet’s health and yours.  Dog ticks can also cause tick paralysis in their hosts.  Fleas are a concern because in severe infestation cases they will bite both pets and humans and cause allergic reactions and can be intermediate hosts for tapeworm, allowing your cats, dogs or even yourself to become infected with tapeworms.  Fleas also have the ability to transmit the plague and murine typhus.  Because these pests can be so dangerous for both you and your pets, it is a good idea to have constant flea and tick control in place around your property and in your home.

Along with speaking to a St. Louis exterminator for help with flea and tick problems, another resource as a pet owner is your pets’ veterinarian.  Your pets’ veterinarian will be able to supply you with specific preventative treatments for your pets for both fleas and ticks.  Making sure that these treatments are prescribed by your vet will ensure that the right ones are chosen for your specific pets' needs and for the specific pests you are trying to prevent.  Providing flea and tick prevention for your pets will help to ensure that once your current infestation is taken care of that new fleas and ticks will not be re-introduced to your home by your pets.

If you are having problems with fleas or ticks, Rottler Pest and Lawn Solutions can help to eliminate your current infestation and then offer control to maintain a pest free property year round.  To treat an active infestation a Rottler professional will come to your home and complete a full inspection followed by treating the exterior perimeter of your home or will treat the entire property if necessary with an appropriate residual pesticide.  If necessary, we may also treat the interior of your home along with treating the perimeter for rodents to reduce the hosts of these parasites.

Once you eliminate your flea and tick infestation you may decide that you would like year round pest control services to continuously prevent fleas, ticks and other pests from invading your home and property.   Rottler's Signature Protection program is specifically designed to accomplish this. The Signature Protection program includes an initial visit where one of our professionals will complete a thorough inspection of your home, followed by an initial service visit where the perimeter of your structure will be treated along with the interior to completely eliminate your current ant or other pest problem. After the initial visit and treatment we will return every other month, focusing on the exterior of your home in order to find and prevent other pests before they get the chance to make it into your home.  The regular every other month service visits include:

• Inspection and treatment of the exterior of your home.

• Application of a perimeter barrier treatment around your home.

• Checking and refilling of rodent bait stations (if applicable).

• Treating all possible pest entry points.

• Inspecting miscellaneous areas around your home such as sheds, garages and decks and treating areas as necessary.

If indoor treatment is ever needed during a regular service visit, it will be done at no charge to you.  And termite control can also be added to this program for an additional charge.

At Rottler Lawn and Pest Solutions, we’ve been helping the residents of St. Louis, Columbia, O’Fallon and other Mid-Missouri cities to keep their homes pest free since 1956.  We are family owned and operated and understand our customers desires to keep their pets, homes and properties pest free in an affordable, safe, efficient manner.  And as business owners ourselves, we understand how important it is to your businesses’ reputation to maintain quality pest control services.  Along with residential pest control and flea and tick control services, Rottler also offers other pest control services that include:

• Termite solutions

• Rodent exclusion

• Mosquito control

• Wildlife management

• Bird control

• Attic insulation

• Commercial pest control 

• Lawn care services

Contact us today to get more information on how we can help you get rid of fleas or ticks that are pestering your beloved pets and invading your home or property or for details about any of our other services!